I don't know if I'll ever make it past those little girls wearing those outrageous head-covers. My goodness. i

Do you mean that in your experience, women/girls do not cover their heads at least when taking communion?

They do. But at least they are not menstruating yet, they shouldn't.

Why not? Are they menstrual caps?

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

Of course, none of this Viking Orthodox work lasted. But then, is that Greek church in New Orleans, the very same one, still in active use?

The congregation is still active, though its location has moved from the original site, if that's what you're asking. There's this story floating around the Internet that Katrina killed the parish (I've seen this in a couple of different places), but I have been there in the last year. A nice lady even let some friends and me into the church just because they wanted to see it.

The parish is still active and viable. Their priest was just elevated to Bishop of AROD. They have done a tremendous job of restoring the church and last year (I think) had an exhibition of the historical icons and artifacts that have been saved and restored over the years.

I was there four years ago, and it showed no signs of going away. I'd be surprised if it did, given the Southern hospitality the congregation showed, even to non-Greeks. In fact, it's a cathedral now. It's located in a much better neighborhood than the original location is (btw, in the iconstasis of the cathedral they have incorporated parts of the old parish's).

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I always thought that Orthodoxy would be in some ways culturally accessible to African-Americans. I have been to some black Baptist and Methodist services and noticed that the responsorial singing style is not unlike a Litany. The length of the service is more like an Orthodox Liturgy than a Roman-catholic mass. There is also a sense of oppression, or historical oppression, as a character-forming influence, which is reminiscent of suffering Orthodoxy.

Of course, Orthodox qualities of asceticism, community over individualism, stillness, maximalism, and a certain inward watchfulness, can be a hurdle for any type of American not raised in the Church. With America's historic religious majority being Protestant, there tends to be a "what is the minimum I can do to be assured of salvation" mentality and a lot of gauging things by outward appearances (are there many people in attendance? is the music similar to music on the radio? etc.).

In my admittedly limited experience, all the typical "to-do's" of church-building in America, are N/A for Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is just different, otherworldly, has its own ways of working completely opposite to any known business model. It's supposed to be difficult, demanding, and uncomfortable. Of course, having unfriendly people or a very tight-knit club into which outsiders cannot break, or poorly done services, will still impede the attraction of converts. I've always been amazed how an Orthodox parish can get huge and very positive local publicity, without it helping attendance one tiny bit, whereas prayers and fasting and tears produce rich and unexpected fruit. It's heavenly.

To use a currently popular dictum, I think we just need to "keep it real."

I don't know if I'll ever make it past those little girls wearing those outrageous head-covers. My goodness. i

Do you mean that in your experience, women/girls do not cover their heads at least when taking communion?

In my experience they do not commune often to begin with and then those wearing head kerchiefs wear them in general as a class mark (older less or not schooled at all peasant women) and not as an individual mark of piety. That is I'm general my experience. Young women and girls do not wear those things nowadays in generally ; I doubt it's different in Dixie.They look like Tolstoi in muzhik grab. Not that it mad him Count Tolstoy any less.

Scary. Something I and augustin agree on (although I spell it "made").

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.